Anime distributor AnimEigo and parent company MediaOCD have released the latest episode of The Anime Business on YouTube featuring an in-depth interview with Crunchyroll co-founder Kun Gao, who recounts his incredible journey building the streaming platform that has transformed the anime industry and its fans.
The Anime Business Episode 18: Kun Gao is available on the official AnimEigo YouTube Channel.
Gao candidly recounts how his fandom for anime led him to combine some keen business savvy with an entrepreneurial passion and skill as a computer engineer to forever change how the world engages anime and fandom.
The interview is filled with anecdotes on the origins of Crunchyroll, which initially operated in the gray area between illegal piracy and semi-legitimacy and navigating the mystical world of Japanese licensing. He recounts the impacts and trade-offs for securing outside financial investment and later corporate acquisition and cautions on of the widening embrace of AI.
The Crunchyroll brand is synonymous with anime and Gao’s contributions continue to reverberate across the anime industry and beyond. He helped to pioneer many technical aspects of running a massively scalable streaming platform and developed a business framework to streamline streaming licensing rights.
Gao departed Crunchyroll in 2021 when it was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Funimation Global Group. It currently has over 21 million paid subscribers worldwide and operates as a joint venture under Sony’s entertainment divisions, specifically managed by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex (a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan).
In June 2026, Gao’s anime-focused media company Nakama launched a first-of-its-kind B2B marketplace platform called AniBiz.com that aims to streamline anime licensing and build an even wider and more integrated global market.
Source: Press Release
